Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Encouraging Italy’s small businesses to go digital
Monday, January 21, 2013
Italy has a long tradition of small, family owned companies becoming global leaders in fields ranging from furniture design and fashion to kitchen appliances and specialty foods. Part of their success is due to Italy's focus on creating networks of like-minded businesses, grouped together in industrial 'clusters' that encourage and enable innovation.
In order to stay ahead, we’re convinced that these clusters must leverage the Internet to help market, sell and distribute their goods. This month, we joined forces with the Union of the Italian Chambers of Commerce
Unioncamere
and the Ministry of Economic Development, to launch "Clusters on the Web."
The initiative will provide the small and medium-sized businesses from 20 Italian clusters with a young mentor and tutor who for six months will support them discovering the opportunities of the web economy. Thanks to Google, the selected young people will attend a training and will receive a scholarship.
We see big opportunities for Italy’s companies that go online. Already, a Venetian company
Atelier Marega
that sells Carnival masks, and an umbrella manufacturer from Mantua called
Pasotti Ombrelli
, pictured above, that is using the net to export their goods to 55 countries around the globe. Let’s hope that our new “Clusters on the Web” program can create many new shining success stories of Italian industries increasing their presence on the web.
Posted by Giorgia Abeltino, Policy Counsel, Google Italy
Discover Israel on Google Maps
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Last April
we released panoramic imagery of sites and streets in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel Aviv-Jaffa via the
Street View
feature of Google Maps. Since then, people from all over the world have explored historical and cultural sites such as the
Western Wall
in Jerusalem’s Old City, the
Baha’i Gardens
in Haifa and the
beaches
of Tel Aviv-Jaffa.
Today, as part of our ongoing effort to make Google Maps even more comprehensive and accurate, we’re publishing street-level imagery of hundreds more cities, towns, villages, heritage sites and tourist attractions across Israel.
You can now virtually tour the picturesque city of
Safed
in the North, the coral reef in
Eilat
in the South, visit the lowest point on earth at the
Dead Sea
, and wander around the narrow passageways of the old city of
Acre
.
Visit
Tiberias
, one of Judaism’s four holy cities; the
Sea of Galilee
where, according to the Gospels, Jesus walked on water; and stop off at
Capernaum
, the ancient fishing village believed to be the home of St. Peter, or the ancient battle site of
Tel Meggido
, better known as Armageddon.
View Larger Map
Capernaum, on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee
The ancient Nabataean cities of
Mamshit
and
Shivta
, both of them UNESCO world heritage sites, can also now be seen directly in Google Maps. Tour around the
Bet She’an National Park
, one of the world’s largest archaeological sites; the Crusader fortress overlooking the excavations at
Tzippori
; or the sandstone and copper-rich nature reserve at
Timna
. Enjoy the colorful Druze market town of Daliyat El Carmel, the Bedouin town of Rahat, or take a ride down the ‘Burma Road’, a makeshift bypass road to Jerusalem built in 1948.
View Larger Map
The 'Mushroom' red sandstone rock formation at Timna
Sports fans can even go inside
Ramat Gan Stadium
or
Bloomfield
. And museum lovers can take in Haifa’s
National Museum of Science, Technology & Space
, the Holocaust Museum at
Kibbutz Yad Mordechai
, the Ghetto Fighters Museum at
Kibbutz Lochamei Ha’getaot
, the
Museum of Bedouin Culture
in the Negev desert, or take a tour around the
Egged Bus Museum
.
We’ve added imagery from cities, towns and villages including Ashdod, Ashkelon, Be’er Sheva, Bnei Brak, Eilat, Isfyia, Kfar Qasem, Kiryat Gat, Nazareth, Netanya, Ofakim, Petah Tikva, Rishon LeTsiyon, Sderot, Tira, and many, many more. And stay tuned - we hope to expand coverage to still more of the region’s sites, streets, cities and towns in the future.
Posted by Ulf Spitzer, Street View Program Manager
Keeping Voters Informed Ahead of the Kenyan Elections
Monday, January 14, 2013
Cross-posted with the
Google Africa Blog
The Internet is increasingly playing an important role in transforming the way citizens participate and engage in the elections across Africa, as we saw last year in
Senegal
and
Ghana
.
Next it’s Kenya’s turn. March 4th 2013 will be a pivotal moment as Kenyan voters go to the polls to decide the country’s future. This will be Kenya’s first general election under the
new constitution
and following the post-election violence of 2007-2008. Expectations are high both for a peaceful transition and a deepening of democracy under the new constitution. Voters are already turning to the internet for information: according to
Google Zeitgeist
, the Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission was the top trending search in Kenya in 2012, and all the major candidates have a strong presence across the various social media outlets.
We want to help empower Kenyans with accessible and useful information during the upcoming elections so we’re launching a number of initiatives to make it easy for voters to find information and make their voices heard. We have
partnered with the Electoral Commission to provide open source technology powering their
online voter tools
, including online registration confirmation and over SMS, mapping the polling stations, and a
developer API
. We are also
training local journalists, civil society and political parties on digital tools for elections, and partnering with local media organizations to support the use of Google+ Hangouts for
interviews with candidates
.
G+Hangout on GhettoFM with MikeSonko who is vying for Senator
Our
Kenya Elections Hub
is a portal where voters, journalists and campaigns can track news and trends about the election.
The Kenyan election will be followed both locally and globally in 2013. As we head to voting day we will continue to work to keep Kenyans more informed about this critical process.
Posted by
Ory Okolloh, Google Policy and Government Relations Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa
Marking the birth of the modern-day Internet
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Today is the 30th birthday of the modern-day Internet. Five years ago we marked the occasion with
a doodle
. This year we invited Vint Cerf to tell the story. Vint is widely regarded as one of the fathers of the Internet for his contributions to shaping the Internet’s architecture, including co-designing the TCP/IP protocol. Today he works with Google to promote and protect the Internet. -Ed.
A long time ago, my colleagues and I became part of a great adventure, teamed with a small band of scientists and technologists in the U.S. and elsewhere. For me, it began in 1969, when the potential of
packet switching
communication was operationally tested in the grand
ARPANET
experiment by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Other kinds of packet switched networks were also pioneered by DARPA, including mobile packet radio and packet satellite, but there was a big problem. There was no common language. Each network had its own
communications protocol
using different conventions and formatting standards to send and receive packets, so there was no way to transmit anything between networks.
In an attempt to solve this, Robert Kahn and I developed a new computer communication protocol designed specifically to support connection among different packet-switched networks. We called it TCP, short for “Transmission Control Protocol,” and in 1974 we published a paper about it in IEEE Transactions on Communications: “
A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication
.” Later, to better handle the transmission of real-time data, including voice, we split TCP into two parts, one of which we called “Internet Protocol,” or IP for short. The two protocols combined were nicknamed TCP/IP.
TCP/IP was tested across the three types of networks developed by DARPA, and eventually was anointed as their new standard. In 1981, Jon Postel published
a transition plan
to migrate the 400 hosts of the ARPANET from the older NCP protocol to TCP/IP, including a deadline of January 1, 1983, after which point all hosts not switched would be cut off.
From left to right: Vint Cerf in 1973, Robert Kahn in the 1970’s, Jon Postel
When the day came, it’s fair to say the main emotion was relief, especially amongst those system administrators racing against the clock. There were no grand celebrations—I can’t even find a photograph. The only visible mementos were the “I survived the TCP/IP switchover” pins proudly worn by those who went through the ordeal!
Yet, with hindsight, it’s obvious it was a momentous occasion. On that day, the operational Internet was born. TCP/IP went on to be embraced as an international standard, and now underpins the entire Internet.
It’s been almost 40 years since Bob and I wrote our paper, and I can assure you while we had high hopes, we did not dare to assume that the Internet would turn into the worldwide platform it’s become. I feel immensely privileged to have played a part and, like any proud parent, have delighted in watching it grow. I continue to
do what I can
to protect its future. I hope you’ll join me today in raising a toast to the Internet—may it continue to connect us for years to come.
Posted by Vint Cerf, VP and Chief Internet Evangelist
Explore Spain's Jewish heritage online
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
More than a year ago, I spoke at a literary festival in
Segovia
, a charming, historic city located north of Madrid and was surprised to see many signs pointing to a "Jewish neighborhood," complete with a cemetery, former shops and restored synagogue-turned-museum. This was strong evidence of how, under democracy, Spain is doing much to rediscover its long neglected Jewish past.
Today, in a ceremony at Madrid's sparkling new
Centro Sefarad-Israel
, we are partnering with
Red de Juderías de España
,the Network of Jewish neighborhoods, a non-profit association founded in 1995, to bring online the Jewish heritage of 24 Spanish cities, from Avila to Tudela. The project, stemming from the inspiration in Segovia, is called
Caminos de Sefarad
- Spain's Jewish Streets. By clicking to the group’s
website
, users from all over the world may visit and tour the cities discover Spain’s Jewish past.
Red de Juderías has implemented
Google Maps
technology so that people can explore the main landmarks online. Clicking on a landmark reveals historical information about each site - and enables a 360º view of the different locations, thanks to Google’s
Street View technology
. An intuitive search panel presents Jewish heritage sites by category, type, geographic zone and date. In total, 523 sites, 910 dates, and 1,667 pictures are displayed.
Interactive map showing the Santa Maria La Blanca Synagogue
Chronology of the Jewish history in Spain
This project represents only one of our latest efforts to bring the Jewish culture online. A little over a year ago, we helped put online
five manuscripts
of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This week, the Leon Levy
Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
, an online collection of more than 5,000 scroll fragments, were uploaded in high definition. The texts include the
Ten Commandments
and part of the
Book of Genesis
, which describes the creation of the world.
We hope this new project will inspire you to learn more about Spain’s Jewish history, and perhaps to visit these cities in person.
Posted by William Echikson, Google External Relations, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Introducing the Wonders of the Web
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Today we’re excited to announce a one-stop shop that
explains how the Internet works
and how policymakers can put it to use. Along with
Coadec
,
Decoded
and the
Enso Collaborative
, we’ve produced a series of short videos and text that provide a critical understanding of how the Internet functions in day-to-day language.
We’ve also developed a
section
that shows government officials how to use very basic code and take advantage of the Internet’s speed, scale and reach to let people know who they are and what they stand for. For example, anyone can use our site to copy and paste a snippet of code to add a +1, “like” or “tweet” button to their web page. Adding this social element allows constituents to see different issue platforms and spread news to their friends.
By getting to know the system that underpins the Web, policymakers can also figure out what matters to their constituents and use that data to tailor campaigns that resonate with voters. In fact, the Internet makes it possible to gather and use real-time information, plot the information across a map and even point individuals toward the nearest polling station, policy meeting or political rally.
Protecting a free and open Internet in the long term requires knowing how it operates. As the Web enables more creativity, information exchange and economic growth than ever before, we hope that this site will become a useful resource for people to become familiar with how it came to be.
Posted by Marco Pancini, Senior Policy Counsel, Google
Genesis and the 10 Commandments scrolls now online
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
A little over a year ago, we
helped put online
five manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls - ancient documents that include the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence. Written more than 2,000 years ago on pieces of parchment and papyrus, they were preserved by the hot, dry desert climate and the darkness of the caves in which they were hidden. The Scrolls are possibly the most important archaeological discovery of the 20th century.
Today, we’re helping put more of these ancient treasures online. The Israel Antiquities Authority is launching the
Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
, an online collection of some 5,000 images of scroll fragments in a quality never seen before. The texts include one of the earliest known copies of the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes
the Ten Commandments
; part of Chapter 1 of the
Book of Genesis
, which describes the creation of the world; and hundreds more 2,000-year-old texts, shedding light on the time when Jesus lived and preached, and on the history of Judaism.
The Ten Commandments. Photo credit Shai Halevi, courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority
Millions of users and scholars can discover and decipher details invisible to the naked eye, at 1215 dpi resolution. The site displays infrared and color images that are equal in quality to the Scrolls themselves. There’s a database containing information for about 900 of the manuscripts, as well as interactive content pages. We’re thrilled to have been able to help this project through hosting on Google Storage and App Engine, and use of Maps, YouTube and Google image technology.
Genesis Chapter 1. Photo credit Shai Halevi, courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority
This partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority is part of our ongoing work to bring important cultural and historical materials online, to make them accessible and help preserve them for future generations. Other examples include the
Yad Vashem Holocaust photo collection
,
Google Art Project
,
World Wonders
and the
Google Cultural Institute
.
We hope you enjoy visiting the Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, or any of these other projects, and interacting with history.
Posted by Eyal Miller, New Business Development, and Yossi Matias, Head of Israel Research and Development Center
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